You may have noticed that the cherry blossoms in Vancouver are blooming earlier than usual.
While it’s a pretty sight no matter the time of the year, the reason why the blossoms are here so early in March might surprise you.
RELATED: This Interactive Map Takes You To 300+ Cherry Blossom Spots in Metro Vancouver
Predicting The Peak
Every year, scientists, students, and citizen forecasters place their bets on when the world’s cherry blossoms will bloom in the International Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition. This global contest is now in its fifth year. It has recently closed, meaning that the guesses are officially locked in.
One thing about cherry blossom trees is that they are notoriously difficult to predict when they will reach peak bloom. They run on a “precise biological clock tied to temperature,” says the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Stewardship.
“Our current thinking is that they need a certain number of cold winter days to ‘reset,’ followed by warming spring temperatures to trigger flowering. If correct, then warmer winters might disrupt this balance, making timing harder to call. Once blossoms open, a single storm can knock petals off in hours, so the peak bloom window is brief.”
The consensus says that Vancouver’s peak bloom is around March 30.
Blooming Earlier and Earlier
In past years, it may have seemed like the trees bloomed later in the spring, and you’d be right. Each year, it appears that cherry trees are blossoming earlier and earlier. But what does that mean?
UBC FES explains, “We know temperate plants flower in the spring in response to warming, but each species needs a different amount. If you think of it as a bucket that needs to be filled with warmth, then cherry trees have a smaller bucket and when it is full, they flower – later species have bigger buckets. With global warming, the whole year is warmer so the buckets all fill faster and this is most obvious for the earliest (smallest bucket) species.”
Essentially, global warming is driving cherry blossom trees to bloom even earlier every year. “Cherry blossoms are a window into changes that touch every part of the natural world.”
The winners of the International Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition will be announced once the trees bloom.
